The invention relates to a device for the chemical wet treatment of photographic material according to the inventive concept stated in the independent claim.
This kind of photographical treating devices are usually called processors (film-processors, paper-processors). A large number of photo finishing apparatuses, in particular the apparatuses named as Minilabs, include either a film-processor or a paper-processor.
Such a processor comprises a series of treating baths which are successively crossed by the photographic material, film or paper, to be treated.
Usually, there are one or more developing baths, a bleaching bath, one or more fixing baths and one or more stabilizing baths which, during the working operation of the processor, contain respective developing solutions, bleaching solutions, fixing solutions and stabilizing solutions which are suitable for the photographic material to be treated.
The number of the baths changes according to the photographic material and to the respective chemical system. In any case, there are one or more developing and bleaching baths.
The treating solutions are subject to consumption according to the output per hour in treated material and therefore they need to be restored in a continuous way or by request. For this purpose, the processor comprises restoring containers which can be replaced and which are connected with the treating baths by means of pumps and pipes in order to restore every treating solution.
A driving device of the pumps operates in such a way as the restoring containers refill adequately each treating solution in each treating bath.
It appears obvious that the empty restoring containers must be opportunely replaced with full restoring containers involving in expenditure on maintenance.
In order to facilitate and to quicken the managing of the restoring containers it was recently introduced into use an organizing method that provides to supply the chemical treating solutions inside plastic containers housed within cardboard casings.
Generally, one of the cardboard casings houses the containers for three developing solutions and for the stabilizing solution while the other cardboard casing houses the containers for the bleaching and the fixing solutions or for a combined bleaching-fixing solution.
According to the above-mentioned organizing method, the chemical system and, in a conforming way, the consumption of the treating solutions, the single plastic containers and the treating solutions holded therein, are synchronized one another in such a way that, as a rule, all the plastic containers, or better, all the cardboard casings should empty in the meantime supposing that the flow rates of the pumps should have been correspondingly adapted.
Level sensors, for example made of electrical contacts, are provided in the plastic containers, or also in their cardboard casings, in order to transmit a signal to their driving devices as soon as one of the containers is empty.
According to the above described method, the maintenance operations are substantially simpler than those required by the previous methods because the restoring containers can be replaced in the meantime requiring only the replacement of two casings containing all the treating solutions.
Moreover, also the disposal of the empty cardboard casings is considerably simpler because there are quantities of residual treating solutions so negligible that the casings and the restoring containers can be disposed only after a simple sorting of the plastic containers from the cardboard casings
On the other hand, this method involves a lot of practical difficulties.
In fact, it often happens that all the containers do not empty in the meantime because the used pumps are not sufficiently accurate and the suction forces required to draw the treating solutions from their containers are varying from cardboard casing to card-board casing.
But, if one of the containers has emptied before the others, this method involves also the replacement of all remaining containers or casings.
Apart from the waste of not used treating solutions, this fact makes the disposal of the casings more difficult and expensive because their residual contents are dangerous for the environment. In addition, this method does not ensure the correct refilling of the treating baths and this can cause negative repercussions throughout the whole treating process.
The aim of the present invention is to obviate the above-described drawbacks and to improve the above described treating device in such a way as to dispose in a more simple and economic way the containers for restoring the single treating solutions. The attainment of the basic object of the present invention will emerge from the features described in the characterising portion of the independent claim.
Further embodiments and improvements according to the present invention are objects of the dependent claims.